07: Flawless Fiona Fenton
by Silent Elegy
Summary: She's perky. She's perfect. She's Danny's twin sister, kidnapped shortly after their birth. Finally, after 14 years, she's found her way home, and is immediately loved by all. That is, almost all...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters are the product of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon studios. Fiona, Elegy, and Kat/Electra are the product Silent Elegy.

* * *

The darkened confines of the creature's cage were an oppressive, physical force. It wanted its freedom. It wanted to go out and do what it had been created to do. But its master…its hated, horrid master…would not let it out. It paced across the iron bars like a wild tiger held captive against its will.

Actually, it rather liked that analogy. It became a tiger, then, the better to pace like one. Its low growl echoed across the cavernous distance. It had been aeons since its master last checked on it. The master liked to know that it was still locked up. Its creation had been somewhat of an accident.

From what it understood, the master had been experimenting with creations from a younger time. Few of them were worthy of the master now, and had been allowed to evolve into better things. But not this one. It had steadfastly refused to change, and had been locked away for its crimes.

What crimes would that be? Even it wasn't sure. It had only been interacting with the life forms under its master's charge. It could hardly be considered the creature's fault if those life forms were so awed by its presence that they sought its favors.

Well…maybe the creature had…nudged things a bit. Just a bit.

It pawed at the thick iron bars in agitation and froze. It pawed again, then looked around warily. The master had not been by in some time…Was it possible the master had forgotten it? It became a bull and trotted to the far side of its cage. It pawed at the ground like all bulls do in movies and television, then charged forward to slam into the cage.

Sure enough, the iron cracked slightly. It threw itself into them again and again until, suddenly, it smashed through. Turning into a wolf, it howled with joy, then abruptly became a mouse so as to be as quiet as one. It rushed forward towards the now visible light and the freedom beyond. It didn't care which of the master's worlds it wound up in. The important thing was that it was free at last.

Moments later, perhaps drawn by the noise or some sixth sense about these things, the master stepped into the cave. She took one look at the broken bars and groaned, "Oh, bugger…"

* * *

Danny Fenton ran home from school, certain that he would arrive to a pair of angry parents and probably another grounding. Dash had started it, as usual. It wasn't Danny's fault he was the school bully's favorite punching bag. But, naturally, the second he tried to fight back, he got detention. Lancer had it out for him, that was all there was to it. He didn't know why, but he suspected it had something to do with the fact he was not his sister. 

He slid to a stop outside his front door, confused. Something felt…off, somehow. He couldn't quite place it, but it felt like his ghost sense should have been going off. He shrugged it off and walked into the house…

…Where he was promptly assailed by a squealing demon. "Oh, my gosh!" the girl squealed. "You must be Danny!"

"Um…hi…" he responded, bemused. "Who are you?" He blinked and wondered if he was seeing things. The girl was about an inch or two shorter than he was, with shoulder-length hair the exact same shade of black as his own. Her eyes were the same shade of blue. Everything about her was like looking into a mirror, only she was a girl. It was eerie.

The girl giggled prettily (pretty annoyingly, rather) as Maddie and Jack walked up behind her. "Danny, sweetie," Maddie said. "We probably should have told you before now…"

"Told me what?" he asked suspiciously, not taking his eyes off the clone that stood before him.

His parents exchanged glances, and Jack shrugged. "Danny, this is your twin sister, Fiona."

The boy continued to stare at the grinning apparition for several seconds until that sank in. He blinked and looked up at his mother and father. "My what?"


	2. Chapter One

The happy chattering of students filled the lunchroom. It was finally the middle of the day, which meant that school was half over. Sadly, Danny was unable to share in the mirth. He stabbed at the mystery meat with his spork and sighed.

"Oh, come on, Danny," remarked his best friend Sam. "It can't be that bad."

The boy scoffed and stabbed his plate so hard his spork snapped. "You have no idea." He sighed again and dropped the remaining half. "All I've heard about since she showed up is how horrible her foster parents were and how abused she's been."

"Maybe you're being too hard on her, man," his other best friend Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah, well, if I thought for a minute any of it was true, I wouldn't be. But she's so perky and happy, she makes Jazz look normal."

He cringed as a high-pitched voice squealed, "Hi, Danny!" He was suddenly the center of highly amused attention as his identical twin bounced over to their table and claimed the open seat next to a suddenly awe-struck Tucker as though she belonged there. She grinned happily and introduced herself. "Wow! Isn't this great, guys? We're like one big happy family!"

Danny mumbled something incoherent and fought the near-irresistible desire to turn invisible.

"Wow!" Fiona squealed. It seemed to be the only thing she was capable of doing. "I really like this school! It's so much nicer than where I came from!"

"Where was that?" Sam asked, ignoring Danny's hissed instruction not to encourage her.

Fiona sniffed and pouted a bit. "It was just horrible," she answered in a false sad tone. "Everyone was so mean to me. No one understands me."

"I know exactly how you feel," Sam confided.

Danny dropped his head into hands. Just like at home, Fiona was suddenly the center of attention. She and Sam were prattling on like old friends while Tucker stared longingly, apparently at a loss for pickup lines. It was really disturbing to watch. At home, his parents had fawned all over her, and Jazz seemed to have forgotten he existed a few times. There was something wrong, but what?

The rest of the day couldn't pass quickly enough. He spent most of it being pelted with questions that he didn't know the answers to. Most notable was the majority of the boys he knew asking if she was single. Apparently, they thought she was really hot. Even Tucker. And considering that she looked almost exactly like Danny himself, that was very disturbing to him.

When school finally let out, he found himself thrown to wayside by even his friends as everyone gathered around to ooh and ah over his twin at the Nasty Burger. With a noise of disgust, he walked to the cemetery. Since it was too early to take in Amity Park's nightlife, the person he was looking for could probably found there. Unless she was flipping through magazines at that grocery store she liked.

Kat was a creature of habit. She liked things to not change. She had joked once that the world could come to an end, and she'd still sit in her favorite booth at the Hot Pink Lizard and listen to karaoke all night.

Sure enough, he found her sitting on her own headstone. She was in jeans and a t-shirt for once; considering her usual mode of attire was a top hat and coat over a frilled white shirt and old fashioned slacks, it was very strange to see. She squinted as she glanced in his direction and shielded her eyes. "Ah, geez! Danny?"

He stopped in confusion as she blinked owlishly in his general direction. "Kat? Are you okay?"

She rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, it's just really dark for some reason, and you're really bright by comparison. Is Dad draining the power again?" She held up a hand and shook her head. "No, no. Don't bother. I already know he's not. If he was, it would only be affecting power lines and the like, not everything."

Danny stared for a few seconds. Kat was something like a ghost, so she had something like ghostly powers. He knew one of those powers was the ability to see electrical energy fields since she was an electric ghost…like-creature…

He shrugged and sat down under the nearby tree; it was little use asking questions. She enjoyed being mysterious too much. Instead, he sighed, something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. "I have a twin sister," he announced.

"Fascinating, I'm sure," Kat answered, completely unmoved.

He nodded slightly. "Yeah. I'm serious." She lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head in his direction. "Apparently, she was kidnapped when we were six months and got sold to some people who treated her like a slave and made her live the basement."

"That bites."

"It would bite more if it were true, but she's just…I don't know…not depressed enough, I guess. I just don't think I believe her."

Kat chewed on the knuckle of her index finger for a few minutes, then shook her head. "What do Jack and Maddie think?"

Danny stood to pace angrily. "That the sun rises and sets around her! And it's not just them either! Everyone is acting this way! There's something wrong. And, of course, Jazz says I'm just being jealous." He ended with a growl and let his eyes flash green, then looked up hopefully as a thought struck him. "Hey, you don't know of any ghosts like that, do you?"

Kat shook her head. "Nope, sorry. Spectra maybe, but that's not her M.O. But I can go ask around." She stood, and her usual clothing appeared around her. "Meet me back here same time tomorrow and I'll tell you what I learn. Cheerio." She drew a glowing circle in the air, a portal to her father's lair in the Ghost Zone, and vanished through it.

Danny waved half-heartedly and changed into a ghost to fly around the city for a while. He would have liked Kat to stay; he could have used the sanity. But if he was lucky, she would find out that flawless Fiona Fenton was really an evil ghost, and he'd be able to give her a sound thrashing.

That thought made him smile.

* * *

"…And then I got sold to Mexico!" Fiona said far too brightly for someone in her supposed position. 

Danny picked at his food while the rest of his family was gathered around his "sister". They had been acting somewhat strangely ever since he got home. Fiona had gone to the mall with her new fan club, and so wasn't home yet. His parents had been going about their daily routines in somewhat of a daze. They barely acknowledged his presence, even when the Fenton Finder started going off. Jazz had been the same way when she got home, as well.

When Fiona finally got back, they had started to act their usual selves again for a few minutes. Then the fawning had started again. It was as though she had them hypnotized, further convincing the ghost boy that she was an evil ghost. It didn't matter that she didn't set off his ghost sense; he had encountered something like it before. In that case, the two ghosts had been working from very far away; he could feel their power, but had been unable to sense them. This felt almost the same way.

He finished choking down his dinner and sneaked upstairs where it was quiet. While he never been a huge fan of homework, puzzling though math was almost pleasant compared to the nonstop jabbering. He wanted to get it finished before patrolling the city since Lancer had informed him in no uncertain terms that he would be suspended if he turned in one more half-finished assignment. Fortunately, the ghost attacks had been quiet of late.

"Sold to Mexico…" he muttered, uncertain whether to laugh or throw up. That girl's story had more holes in it than the Wal-Mart parking lot. His family had to have been hypnotized; Maddie would never have believed that fairy tale under normal circumstances.

Suddenly, his door slammed open and he cringed. "Don't you ever knock?" he demanded after the obligatory squealed greeting.

Fiona sat on the edge of his bed, bouncing excitedly. "Uh oh!" she chastised, shaking her finger at him. "Looks like Mr. Grumpy got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!"

He repressed the desire to start throwing ectoplasmic energy blasts at her. "Do you mind? I'm trying to do my homework."

"Homework is boring!" Fiona cried, throwing herself back against the bed. "Let's do something! Why don't we go to the park?"

"I don't have time." Danny looked down at his math book and tried to ignore the girl.

"Oh, come on! Let's do something here! How about…I spy…with my little eye…"

"Would you just get out of here already?" he yelled.

Fiona cringed slightly, then stuck out her tongue. "It was just a game. Lighten up."

Not so very long ago, the Fentons had been invited to go ghost hunting on an abandoned prison island by the name of Carnate. Although they were only there for a few hours, Danny spent most of that time stuck in a nightmare courtesy of the insanely twisted Silver Meryll Santiago. She had shown him horrible images of his family dying in the most brutally depraved ways, all the while telling him it was just a game. Fiona used that same patronizing tone that Silver had.

The pencil snapped in Danny's hand. He jumped to his feet so quickly that he kicked his chair quite a ways behind him. "GET OUT!" he roared, as memories of that time became confused with what was actually going on.

Fiona actually cowered for a second before fleeing as fast as her feet would carry her. Danny stayed where he was, fists clenched and eyes closed, trying to sort out reality from remembrance. He had been reacting to Silver, not Fiona. His twin had merely brought out a flashback of that private war. It didn't bother him like it had, but every once in a while, something would happen to bring it all back. Her tone coupled with her words had been that something.

He slowly righted his chair and sank into it, then dropped his head into his hands and counted to ten. He was not some angsty teenager; he was not depressed; he was not going to do something he'd regret later…

Finally, he went back to his homework and was able to enjoy blessed silence for the rest of the day.

* * *

A/N: For those of you just joining us, Kat first appears in Pandora's Box, and has been a fixture in my stories ever since. Silver was from my last fic, Cat and Mouse. I apologize for the bit of angst there at the end, but it seems kind of shallow to have him just go on as if he'd never been totured like that.If this was real life, he'd still be affected by it in some way or another. 


	3. Chapter Two

Danny, Sam, and Tucker walked down the hall surrounded by the cheerleading squad. Normally, that would have caused the day to qualify for "best in his life," if not for one minor detail.

Fiona Fenton, his new archenemy. She chattered happily at him about nothing, completely ignoring her fan club. It was as though she was trying to make up for the night before. So far, she had only succeeded in reminding him why evil ghosts needed to be vanquished as quickly as possible.

He found himself praying that she was a ghost. It would have made life so much easier.

"Like, what is up with these lights?" asked one of the girls. She may simply have been trying to get Fiona's attention, a feat that was doomed to fail. She did, however, succeed in drawing Danny's gaze to the ceiling above. The lights flickered and pulsed as though possessed by a foreign entity. He grinned and turned to his friends.

"Hey, guys, I've got to be somewhere," he muttered.

Sam, whose attention was more on Fiona, nodded vaguely. "Sure. See you, Danny." Tucker didn't even bother to respond.

"Maybe we can all come with you!" Fiona announced, clapping her hands in delight.

"Uh, maybe later," the boy said quickly. He practically ran out of the school to get away. Outside, he glanced around, finally locating his target as she appeared in a shower of sparks next to the wall. "What's going on?" he asked brightly.

Kat rubbed her eyes and blinked several times. "Well, dang! I was going to say you're out of luck, but…" She shook her head and sighed. "I assume that was miss twin sister." At Danny's nod, she went on. "She doesn't look a thing like you from my point of view. She's got the same basic shape, but her EM signature is completely different."

"Her what?"

"Electromagnetic," she answered, waving her hand dismissively. "Listen. There's nothing like that thing in the Ghost Zone, so I don't think it's a ghost. But it's not human, either. No human is that bright. Even you're not that bright."

Danny momentarily considered making a crack about her intelligence, then decided against it. By the look on her face, a joke would not be welcome. He shrugged. "Great! So that means I can kill her."

Kat opened her mouth as though to speak, but closed it again as she thought better of whatever she'd been about to say. "There you go again," she sighed. "Jumping to conclusions. I'll beg you to recall that nonexistant morn on which you claim we first met."

It had actually been about 3:30 in the morning in the school auditorium. Danny had threatened to send her back to the Ghost Zone, and had gotten quite a lecture on not being the first to attack non-hostile entities. He looked down at his feet in mild annoyance until he remembered something else. "That was in the Nasty Burger, I think," he pointed out insolently. "You were pretending to be a normal human."

She mock glared at him for a second. "Bite me. Cheerio, Phantom. Don't forget about rehearsal tonight."

"Have I ever forgotten?" he demanded of the fading blue smoke that heralded her overly theatric departure. With an aggravated huff, he turned to go before Fiona could catch up. It was a nice day; he decided to work on his homework in the park rather than go home and deal with his "sister's" lack of presence. He didn't like the way his parents acted when she wasn't around. It was easy for Kat to say that he should find out what Fiona wanted before he attacked her. It was completely different to see everyone he knew acting so hypnotized.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't pay much attention to where he was going until a voice yelled, "Bugger it, anyway!" and a few sheets of paper fluttered past his feet. He retrieved them, then helped their owner reclaim the rest of her lost work. "Thanks," the woman said as she stood and took the proffered pages. She smiled nervously, brushed short, brown hair out of her eyes, and adjusted her black-framed glasses.

Danny smiled back. "No problem."

The woman had to have been in her early twenties, but she blushed a shade of bright red not found in nature and shuffled away, hunched over slightly and looking almost like a girl half her age. He could hear her muttering to herself, something about a blatant plot device. He dismissed the meeting from his mind and returned to the current dilemma.

Fiona Fenton. Perfect Fiona Fenton. Fiona who could do no wrong. It was disgusting.

What if he was just jealous? What if-

"I am the Box Ghost!"

Danny cringed at the proclamation shouted practically in his ear and whirled angrily. "Didn't I send you back to the Ghost Zone yesterday?" he demanded, switching to ghost mode.

The slightly mad spook in coveralls grinned in what he probably thought was a malicious manner. "It is true that you trapped me in your cylindrical container and sent me back! But I have come back to-"

He was suddenly interrupted by a beam of light as Danny trapped him the Fenton Thermos for possibly the third time in as many days. "Where do you keep coming from?" he muttered, more to himself than his prisoner. He was relatively certain the Box Ghost hadn't come through the Fenton Ghost Portal, and the one owned by Vlad Masters was too far away to make the trip that quickly.

The boy glanced around to make sure he was alone, then changed back into a human. He knew some ghosts had the ability to tear holes in reality and go back and forth; maybe Box Ghost was one of them. Stowing the thermos in his backpack again, he continued on his way across the park. Behind him, a squirrel chattered curiously as it watched him go. That was a very interesting ability Danny had, it thought. It shimmered and grew larger, changing color and form until it had become Fiona Fenton.

She smiled slyly. A very interesting ability, indeed.

* * *

Rehearsal for the annual Casper High school musical tended to be haphazard at best. The Phantom of the Opera was scheduled to be performed in just over a month, and it did not look like they would make that deadline. The small volunteer orchestra couldn't play even half of the score; the actors kept forgetting their lines; and the props were laughable. 

Fiona had insisted on accompanying Danny to the auditorium, which meant the poor drama club had quite a sizable audience. They were very nervous, but at least they hadn't started fawning yet. Instead, they stuttered and stammered and tripped and sang horribly off-key. Finally, the theater director called for a short break.

Danny slid down the ladder from the catwalks to the stage and sauntered over to join Kat. She was already deep in negotiations with the director to ban the audience. For once, he agreed. While he went to order the Fiona Fan Club to leave, Kat rubbed her eyes and turned to Danny.

"You know," she said wearily. "Normally, I would say having an audience is good for them, but that girl's EM field is giving me a headache. It's hard to think."

"She's got them all hypnotized," Danny murmured.

"There could be any number of reasons for that. It doesn't mean she's bent on taking over the world."

"You're sure she doesn't have you hypnotized?"

Kat opened her mouth to refute, then closed it again thoughtfully. She was infuriatingly egotistical, but she was also an intellectual. It may have galled her to think that she could be hypnotized, but she was too smart to reject the possibility out of hand. She opened her mouth again, and was interrupted by the theater director's call for places. She closed her mouth with an audible click of her teeth and let her eyes flash green in anger, something she had picked up from Danny.

The boy snickered as he clambered back up to the catwalk, or as Kat called them, the flies. She said it was an old term, which he had replied to with a dubious expression. He glanced out into the seats to see that Fiona had charmed her way into being allowed to remain. Doubtless, Kat was not pleased, although it was impossible to tell while she acted. She was, above all, a professional. While she not may not have the greatest actress in the world, she certainly wasn't going to let a minor irritation like that color her performance.

At least, not as such, but the flickering lights and white noise from the speakers betrayed her mood. Danny resisted the desire to call down and tell her to relax as the spotlights began to spark. Doing so would lead to awkward questions, and it wasn't doing any actual harm yet.

When rehearsal let out, he walked out with Kat. "So, you were saying?" he began.

"That was so cool!" squealed Fiona as she ran to meet them, interrupting Kat again and angering her further. There was nothing she hated more than being interrupted, although Danny's twin probably came very close.

"'Cool' is hardly the word one should use to describe such a brilliant work of art," the haughty thespian rebuked. "The Phantom of the Opera is one of the greatest love stories of our age, and you cheapen it with your irreverent vocabulary."

Fiona narrowed her eyes and muttered something unintelligible. Danny thought she looked somewhat shocked beneath her affronted expression. In fact, it suddenly occurred to him that she had the same almost bewildered look in her eyes that she wore whenever she looked at him. It was as though she didn't know what to do with someone who wasn't under her spell. He filed that away for future reference and said goodbye to Kat, who had materialized her top hat from out of nowhere and stalked off in the opposite direction.

It was actually quite a while before he realized that Fiona wasn't chattering endlessly like she usually did. He may have continued to not notice if she hadn't suddenly said, "Hey, Danny?" She almost sounded shy.

"Yeah?" he responded, not really interested.

"Um…I just wanted to say that I know about you." Danny froze, hardly daring to breathe. She couldn't possibly mean… "It's okay, you know," she went on, somewhat bolder. "I'm a halfa, too."

He stared at her. It had been months at least since he had last heard the term, and he was kind of slow to place it. Once he did, he continued to stare, unable to formulate any kind of coherent response. Finally, he said, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Inwardly, he cringed. That had not come out quite as strongly as it had sounded in his head.

Fiona giggled in that nerve-grating way that she had and transformed. It looked the same as when Danny transformed: two blue rings that passed across her body, changing her from a human into a ghost. He was torn between excitement at the prospect of someone else like himself who was actually on his side, and distaste that said someone was Fiona Fenton. Then he really looked at her.

White hair, green eyes…she could be excused for that; they were supposed to be twins, after all. It was the black jumpsuit with white gloves and boots that caught his attention. No, it was just too…contrived…

He debated acting scared, then realized that too much time had passed for that to be believable. Instead, he folded his arms and leaned back slightly. "And you really expect me to believe that you're half ghost?" he asked skeptically.

Again with that confused look. She quickly covered it up with a bright smile, but her squeal seemed a bit strained. "Of course, silly! What else would I be?"

"Uh, I don't know. A full ghost, maybe?"

Danny was suddenly struck by an epiphany. Fiona had expected him to believe her completely; that fact that he questioned her was not only confusing to her, but worrying. Once again, she smoothed her expression, this time with an exaggerated pout. She grabbed his hand before he could draw away and attempted to smile disarmingly into his eyes. "You're my brother," she reminded him. "I would never lie to you."

"Unless you're not who you say you are," he pointed out.

For just a split second, those eyes were filled with rage, then blue rings passed across her again and the moment was gone. She sniffed sorrowfully and turned away, still holding his hand in one of hers. "I just want to live here with you," she said quietly. "You're my family, and I love you all. But I won't force you to believe me if you really don't want to."

Danny finally managed to extricate his hand from her grasp. "Look, just tell me how you got to be half ghost, and I'll consider believing you."

She was blatantly surprised as she turned to face him again. "I was born this way, of course."

The boy started to inform her that her story wasn't even remotely possible when he was suddenly struck by how abysmally bad an idea that would be. She didn't know he hadn't been born that way; clearly, she hadn't done a lot of research into his life before invading it. The fact that he might be able to use that in some way would occur to him later. For the moment, he was more concerned with the look of pure rage he had seen in her eyes. Even Kat never got that angry, and she had the shortest temper of anyone he had ever met.

He was still trying to figure out how to respond when she smiled again and squealed, "You need to think about it for a while. I understand! This is all so very sudden for you, and that's okay! It was pretty sudden for me, too! But now we both know we're not alone in the world!" She captured him in a tight embrace, then broke away to skip ahead, leaving Danny to follow at a slower pace.

Kat was not going to enjoy hearing that she was wrong.


	4. Chapter Three

A flock of birds rose suddenly into the sky amid the raucous sound of terrified chirping. The black and white blur that had startled them twisted around slightly to fire a beam of green energy at the heavily armored ghost in hot pursuit. Skulker dodged the blast and returned with one of his own. "Give it up, whelp!" the Ghost Zone's greater hunter called out. "We both know you can't run forever!"

"Maybe I'm not trying to!" Danny yelled back. It was an idea he had gotten one day when he had been teleported to an alternate reality. Granted, he had been fighting the alternate version of Kat at the time, but it made sense that a powerful enough shock would disable Skulker's ecto-skeleton.

He saw the power station ahead and grinned rakishly. All he had to do was get Skulker in there and-

"Leave my brother alone, you big meanie!" squealed Fiona suddenly. Danny groaned and turned to see the ghost girl swoop down from the sky and crash into Skulker. They both went down hard, but she was the first to recover.

"Fiona, get out of here!" the ghost boy ordered. "I've got everything under control."

Skulker pulled himself to his feet and checked his wrist unit. He stared at in confusion, tapped on it a few times, then muttered something about how it couldn't have been broken. Fiona took that moment to hit him with an ectoplasmic energy blast that actually blew a sparking hole in the middle of his armor. She followed right behind it with a body slam that threw him to the ground. Danny rolled his eyes and pulled Skulker into the Fenton Thermos. Before he could say anything, Fiona squealed delightedly, "We make such a great team!"

"I could have handled that myself," Danny grumbled.

"Well, of course, you could have!" was the almost condescending reply. "But I'm here now, so you don't have to be by yourself anymore! I'll help you a lot more than Kat ever did!"

It was true that Kat refused to help Danny fight ghosts. At first, she had claimed that she was a pacifist. When Danny had finally confronted her about the obvious lie, she had confessed the real reason. "You're almost one of a kind, Phantom," she had said. "And there will come a day when you have no one but yourself to depend on. Not your friends; not your family. I know it's depressing, but there it is. If I help you with the little things, I'm taking away your ability to handle the big things on your own. I'm not going to do that to you because I'm your friend. But don't ever think that means I won't be there if you need me."

It was a good reason, and one the boy had decided to accept. He didn't quite get it exactly, but he accepted it. Rather than argue the point, however, he slung the Fenton Thermos over his shoulder and headed for home. The less time he spent talking to that leech, the better. He paid absolutely no attention to her as she flew next to him, jabbering on endlessly.

The trip back to Fenton Works seemed to take about twice as long as it actually did, but they eventually made it. Danny released the irate Skulker back into the Ghost Zone and momentarily considered doing the same to Fiona as they both became human again. She followed him upstairs and out the front door.

All he wanted out of life was for the girl to get out of it. Was that really so much to ask for? His friends weren't even his friends, anymore; they were Fiona's. The only time anyone noticed him anymore was when he was around her. The rest of the time, they ignored him. It wasn't even like a conscious decision, either. It was like they couldn't acknowledge him.

"What do you want?" Danny sighed.

"Just to be with you," Fiona answered, perplexed. "To be your sister."

"You're not my sister."

She pouted like a child might, her bottom lip thrust out in what was supposed to have been a cute manner. "Of course, I am." She might have gone on, but something caught her attention. She froze, and for a fraction of a second, Danny thought she looked like a rabbit. He followed her gaze to see the dark haired woman from the day before sitting behind the glass window of a little café. She was scribbling furiously on something, probably one of those papers she had lost.

Fiona took a few steps back, then said a hasty farewell and went quickly back the way they had come. Danny watched her go, then turned back to the woman again, trying to figure out what had his twin so spooked. He spent a few seconds wondering if it would be a good idea to go over there or not, then dashed across the street and slipped inside. She was muttering to herself, something about a badly contrived coincidence. As he crept up behind her, he was able to see a little of what she wrote. It said something about some kind of creature, but she shoved it into her little bag before he could see more.

"Uh…hi," he said, grinning nervously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The woman ducked her head shyly, her face the color of a ripe tomato. "Oh, n-n-no," she stammered. "I was…uh…j-just leaving…" She smiled slightly as she stumbled out of the chair and practically fled the establishment. Danny shook his head, amused. The lady acted like she was talking to some kind of celebrity. She couldn't have been what scared Fiona. He glanced back at the table and noticed that the woman had left one of her papers behind. He picked it up, intending to chase after her and give it back, but curiosity made him look at it first.

It was an ordinary sheet of notebook paper that had been covered in swirls, doodles, and random lines. What little text there was consisted of a grocery list, some nonsensical math equations, and the words, "The M.o.C. escaped. Don't forget to chase after it."

"M.o.C.?" he muttered. After a moment's hesitation, he folded the paper and shoved it into a pocket, then left for the cemetery. Maybe Kat would know what it was. For once, however, she was nowhere to be found. Danny went into ghost mode and flew circles around the cemetery until he was sure she wasn't just hiding.

It was too early for the bars open, and her grocery store would already be closed. He considered chasing her down, but went home instead. It was almost time for dinner, and there was a vague chance that he might be missed. He doubted it, but there was a chance.

High above the city, he closed his eyes and drifted at a leisurely pace. It was always so peaceful in the sky, a welcome change from his home life of late. He scoffed as it occurred to him that he could have walked into the kitchen and changed back, and his parents still wouldn't have given him more than a passing glance. He had to get rid of Fiona, but how?

Worse, what if things didn't go back to normal after she was gone?

He sighed as his house came into view. That was a chance he would have to take. Nothing would get better as long as she was still around.

At home, his entire family plus the interloper were sitting in the living room in front of a muted television. So intent were they on Fiona's lies that they barely acknowledged his presence. He ran upstairs to his room and closed the door, then flopped onto the bed to stare at the ceiling, trying to figure out what M.o.C. might mean.

He didn't know why it was eating at him so much, except that Fiona had been scared of something in the vicinity of that woman. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Almost like…

"Like a badly contrived coincidence," he whispered.


	5. Chapter Four

Danny sat staring at the blackboard without actually seeing it. He had moved to the back of the classroom rather than sit next to his supposed sister. This meant that he couldn't sit next to Sam and Tucker, but it also meant that he was closer to Paulina. Despite his best intentions, he found his eyes wandering in her direction again and forced them back towards Lancer.

The lights began to flicker. After a few minutes, students began to stir restlessly and mutter to each other. Danny noticed Fiona tense and gaze upward just before the lights went out completely for about thirty seconds.

"It's a ghost!" Paulina cried fearfully. This, naturally, led to a veritable stampede that Lancer was just barely able to get under control again.

"_Pride and Prejudice_, students!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure it's nothing. Now…"

Danny tuned out the rest of lesson. Everyone except Sam and Tucker were glancing around furtively, which was normal enough; they spent far too much time around ghosts to be properly scared by them anymore. Fiona, however, wasn't looking around like everyone else. She knew exactly where the "ghost" was: directly above their heads.

When the last bell finally rang, he ducked into a nearby bathroom to transform into his ghostly alter ego, then went straight up through the building to the roof. He found Kat slumped next to an air conditioning unit, again in civilian attire. She was difficult see until he got closer; although she was seldom visible at a distance, he should have been well within that range. Even close up, she seemed very faded.

"Are you okay?" he asked, worried, as she closed her eyes and looked away.

"It's not a blackout…" she said quietly. "It's not the power; it's something else."

"What do you mean?" Danny already knew it wasn't a blackout. In fact, he'd actually forgotten about Kat's claim that something was draining the power.

She shook her head. "I tried to get out, but it's like there's some kind of field over Amity. It's not electromagnetic, or even electric. I can't affect it at all."

After a few moments thought, the boy said, "It's got to have something to do with Fiona. It started happening right around when she showed up."

"I don't think she's behind this."

Danny stared at her. He was about to angrily point out that Kat had been defending the intruder since she arrived, but stopped as he realized what was going on. "She's affecting you, too," he informed her. "She's got you hypnotized just like everybody else."

Kat turned back to fix him with a withering glare. "No one hypnotizes me."

"Then why are you defending her?"

She let her eyes glow green, but it was faint. "I have my reasons," she said dangerously. "Don't mess with me."

Danny crossed his arms and sighed. "You're too weak to fight me, even if I wanted to. I'm going to stop her, and then you'll thank me." He took off, ignoring the weak ranting of the narcissistic thespian. The park was unusually quiet, so he landed there to think.

"Okay," he muttered, an unconscious effort to gather his thoughts. Fiona arrived, and everyone loved her. At the same time, a field appeared around town that overshadowed its usual electromagnetic patterns, causing Kat to become ill. The only known person as yet unaffected was Danny himself.

He was alone.

"There you are!"

But not alone enough. "What do you want, Fiona?" he sighed without turning.

"Me and Sam and Tucker are going to the mall," she said brightly. "Do you want to come? Paulina will be there."

The boy found himself torn between his dislike for Fiona and all things related to her, and his puppy love for Paulina. He really wanted to pass, but he really wanted to go. Especially if there was the opportunity that Paulina might talk to him. If Fiona could make Paulina like him, maybe she wasn't so bad…

A memory swam to the surface of his mind. It had never actually happened, thanks to Clockwork, so Danny was the only one who remembered. A spirit of fire bent on the destruction of humanity had manipulated him into freeing it by giving him the things he wanted most. One of those things had involved mind controlling Paulina.

"Pass," he said at last, although it was difficult. After several minutes of silence, he turned to see Fiona in her ghost form regard him in something that was part sadness and part anger. She covered it up quickly with a bright smile and shrugged.

"Well, your loss," she responded. "See you at home."

Danny waited until she was out of ear shot to say, "It's not your home."

He had an idea, something he had been thinking about all day. He wanted to know exactly how that dark haired woman fit into this mess. Although he had no real idea how to find her, he thought the two places she had already been seemed a likely start. Once he had assured himself that she was not in the park, he went invisible and flew to the café. Sure enough, he saw her just as she was leaving.

She walked upright, but just barely alert, as though her mind was out in the galaxy somewhere. Still, there was no trace of the blushing mouse he had seen the last two times. He followed her for a block, trying to figure out how best to approach her. When she turned to cut through a deserted alleyway, it seemed as good a time as any. He landed and became human, then called, "Excuse me."

The woman turned; when she saw who was talking, the mouse came back. She bit her bottom lip and cowered slightly, though more in awe than fear. She said nothing, but her eyebrows raised slightly in askance.

Danny pulled the page out of his pocket and held it out to her. "You dropped this yesterday."

She straightened out of surprise and took it, then grinned nervously. "Brain like a sieve," she explained with an uncertain laugh.

The boy smiled encouragingly; at least, she hadn't run away yet. "So, what's M.o.C. mean?" At the woman's hesitation, he said, "Sorry, I know I probably shouldn't have read it…"

"Oh, it's okay," she replied quickly. "It means…uh…ah…ah…." She closed her eyes in irritation and held up one finger in a "wait" gesture. Danny shifted uncomfortably as several seconds went by before she finally managed to continue. "M-m-monster of Contrivance," she stuttered with an apologetic look.

"But what does that mean?"

"Oh, you're going to make me talk?" the woman muttered, bemused. She sighed. "It's the name of a literary device, sort of like a d-d-d…" She clenched her fists and laughed bitterly. "I don't stutter," she explained pointlessly. "I just stammer when I get nervous. Sorry. Deus ex Machina."

Danny looked at her blankly. "Okay…"

She scratched the back of her neck. "Think blatant plot device. Sort of like the Box Ghost showing up right in the nick of time."

The boy opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but was cut off by a cry of, "Beware!" The timing was just too perfect. In the time it took to glance at the ghost behind him and turned back around, the woman had vanished. Danny pulled Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos without bothering to exchange banter and ran after her, but she had quite thoroughly vanished.

Clearly, she had some kind of power, and was probably the reason Box Ghost kept finding his way back to the real world. Were she and Fiona the same kind of creature? It made sense, really. Fiona was controlling everyone she came into contact with, and the woman was able to control ghosts. What if Fiona had invaded his life in an attempt to hide from the woman?

The more he thought about it, the more likely that seemed. It would certainly explain why his would-be twin had seemed so scared of her. But then, why didn't the woman just catch her and leave?

He froze. The field, of course. It had weakened Kat, so why not the woman? He suddenly found himself wondering if the woman hadn't meant to drop that paper. Maybe she was trying to help him beat Fiona, since he was the only one not affected by her. Of course, that implied that the woman knew about him, but he was more than willing to entertain that possibility. With all the other strange things that had been happening, it wouldn't have surprised him in the slightest.

When he got home, he ran upstairs without even trying to get his family's attention and turned on his computer. A Google search for M.o.C. hadn't turned up anything more than "Make-Out Club." Maybe Deus ex Machina would be more informative.

Two hours later, Danny clicked the mouse listlessly, having learned nothing of any apparent note. He was almost grateful when the door slammed open to admit his happily squealing imposter twin. He actually turned to greet her, in fact, once he closed the internet window. "Yeah?"

"You didn't come down for dinner," Fiona pouted. "We missed you."

"Somehow, I doubt that," the boy muttered.

His twin sat down on the bed, a saddened look on her face. "I know you don't like me, brother," she said quietly. "But I don't know why. What did I do wrong?"

Danny scoffed incredulously and stared at her. "You invaded my life, you stole my friends and family, you…you're just annoying in general!" He felt a twinge of guilt at her injured expression, and turned away so as to not look at her. "Why won't you just be yourself?"

"I'm trying!" Fiona wailed overdramatically. "I just want you to accept me! I want someone to accept me!"

"You're using me to hide from that lady," Danny refuted, turning to face her again.

The mock sadness dropped away; the girl stared at him blankly, then lowered her head slightly. "You know about her?" It was more statement than question, but Danny nodded anyway. Fiona nodded as though she had been afraid of that. "All right, yes. I'm trying to hide from her. But you don't know how horrible she is. She keeps me locked up all the time. You have to help me!"

"You've been lying to me since you got here," Danny pointed out. "Why should I believe you now?"

Fiona shook her head in disbelief. "I don't get it," she said blankly. "Why aren't you like everyone else? Why do you resist me? I only want to be part of your life? Why do you drive me away?"

"Because you're not part of my life."

They stared at each other for a long time, then the girl narrowed her eyes. "No, Danny. You're not part of mine." She stood and stalked out of the room, leaving a confused ghost boy to wonder exactly what she meant.


	6. Chapter Five

The blaring noise of the alarm clock dragged the tired boy out of his comfortable darkness and back into reality. Grumbling rebelliously, Danny reached out and turned it off, then rolled over. After a while, sleep kicked him out, and he sat up stretching. He glanced at the clock and started to get up, then actually looked at the clock.

"Darn it, Jazz!" he exclaimed quietly, frantically getting dressed. She usually woke him up when he turned off his alarm like that. Trust her to choose the day he had a test with Lancer to teach him a lesson. "I can't believe it's after noon," he muttered, practically flying out the door.

He stopped short and slapped his forehead, then switched to ghost mode and literally flew out the door, the far wall, and the front of the house. If he was lucky, no ghosts would stop him on the way, and he would make it without being later than he already was.

Invisible, he dove through the roof of the school and changed back in the middle of the empty hall, then ran the remaining few feet to his class and slid through the door. No one paid him the slightest bit of attention as he quietly made his way to the back of the room, for which he was grateful. He had been expecting everyone to laugh and make fun of him for sleeping in, followed by a visit with the principal that would probably involve his parents and…

And suddenly the fact that this was not happening was very, very worrisome.

Danny glanced around at his classmates; they seemed to be acting normally enough. No one was paying the slightest bit of attention to the lesson, as usual. Dash seemed to be trying to hit on Fiona, which was disturbing. Paulina was doing her nails. Sam and Tucker were passing notes back and forth; he wondered what they were discussing.

Part of him was clamoring to yell something and get everyone's attention. He was relatively certain it wouldn't work, anyway, but if it did, he would never live down the embarrassment. Instead, he took notes as usual for what was left of the period and headed down to Lancer's class.

He continued to be ignored by all. While it was refreshing not to be tormented by Dash for once, he was too worried to enjoy it. Lancer completely passed over him when handing out the test, so he walked up and grabbed one off the desk. It was fairly straightforward, but he found it difficult to concentrate. When the last bell rang, he stayed where he was to finish, then slid the paper onto Lancer's desk and left.

He had been forgotten. Fiona had somehow forced everyone to forget about him. He tried to talk to Sam and Tucker, but they simply walked around him without even realizing it, and Jazz acted no differently. It wasn't until the Box Ghost showed up and was defeated by Fiona that he realized the full extent of what she had done. He hadn't just been forgotten, he had been replaced.

He flew up to the roof of the school and sat with his feet hanging over the edge. After the initial angst wore off, he clenched his fists in determination. Fiona was not going to get away with this, but first, he needed to know exactly what she was.

* * *

The dark haired woman paced the width of the deserted alley impatiently. Danny faded into view directly in front of her, startling a squeal from her. "There's something going on, and I know you're involved," he said without preamble.

The lady sighed and closed her eyes, an effort to slow the beating of her heart as much as to gather her scattered thoughts. When she opened them again, her face was an interesting shade of red, but she was calm enough. "Wondering when you'd get here…yeah, that was me," she admitted. "Sorry."

"What was you?" Danny asked suspiciously.

The lady shrugged and clicked her tongue. "Contrivance is my creature, I'm afraid. It had a v-very useful purpose until it realized it could mind control people, and then I had to…uh…uh…" She twiddled her fingers while she tried to remember the word. Danny folded his arms impatiently. "Lock her up," she finished finally.

So Fiona was the Monster of Contrivance; he wasn't surprised. "But why is she doing this?"

"To get back at me, I think. That and because it w-wants to be involved in things. It doesn't understand. I tried to teach it that it doesn't have to take over everything to be liked, but…" She trailed off with a helpless flip of her hand. "My other creatures got it."

Danny drifted toward the ground in dismay. "There's more like her?"

"Oh, no, no!" the lady replied emphatically. "Not like that one, no. My other creatures are normal. You can't even tell the difference." She said that last part with an egotistical lilt that reminded him of Kat. The boy looked at her skeptically until she turned red again and ducked her head muttering, "Well, maybe you can, a little…"

"Whatever," Danny sighed. As long as he didn't have to worry about dealing with anymore like Fiona, he didn't much care. "So how do I beat her?"

"I have no idea," the woman answered. "Wherever it's insinu..ated…oh bugger…" She smacked her forehead. "I am the stupidest...You know, I honestly didn't believe she would be that obvious, but I…" She shook her head. "So what name does she go by, and species and all that?"

After a moment's hesitation, Danny told her the whole story beginning with coming home from school that day. The woman jotted down notes in small book during the telling, snickered a bit when he got to the half ghost part, and said some very interesting phrases when he finished. He raised an eyebrow and resolved to remember the last one. It was very descriptive of the situation. "So shouldn't you know all this stuff?" he asked.

"You're kidding, right?" She scoffed and shook her head. "Danny boy, I have trouble keeping my own thoughts in line." She chuckled nervously as her brain caught up to her mouth, and she realized what she'd called him. When he didn't bother to ask how she knew his name, she went on. "Look, as long as…'Fiona' is half ghost, she'll answer to all the same rules you do."

"So I can catch her in the Fenton Thermos and sent her to the Ghost Zone?" That thought made him very happy indeed.

The woman grinned and shook her head. "Sure you could, but it wouldn't help. Catch her, then give her back to me. Once I have control of her again, everything will go back to normal."

"You're not going to get control of me!" Fiona exclaimed, dropping into the alley.

"Contrivance, stop this!" the woman called, pleading.

The creature went on as though she hadn't spoken. "You ruin everything! I wondered why brother didn't like me! It was because of you!"

"You're not my sister!" Danny protested at the same time the woman said, "He's not your brother!"

A lone tear made its way down Fiona's cheek as she addressed Danny. "I could have been. We could have had all kinds of adventures together. It would have been so much fun." She sniffed and angrily turned on her creator. "But you had to go and ruin things, just like you always do!" She threw out her hand and fired a blast of green energy at the woman, who vanished with a pained cry.

Danny had lunged forward when he saw what Fiona intended, but he was too late. He sank to the ground, wondering how he could have been too late when he was right there. It was as though time had slowed down around him to prevent him from saving her. He glanced up at Fiona in the realization that that was exactly what happened.

She sank down next to him with a bright smile, and he found he couldn't pull away. "It's okay, now, brother," she said sweetly. "We'll start over and pretend this never happened. And we'll have all kinds of adventures, won't we?"

He tried to shove her away, but something stopped him. Part of him wanted desperately to rebel, but she really was a sweet kid. She was just a little misunderstood, that was all. He grinned. "Sound like fun."

* * *

"Bugger it all anyway!" the woman yelled, slamming her hand against the wall. She shook it painfully and rolled her eyes at herself. At least, she knew where Contrivance had gone, this time. She set about trying to get back to Amity Park before her creature could do any more damage. 


	7. Chapter Six

Danny and Fiona ran through the halls of Casper High. Normally, this act would have gotten him stuck in detention, but Lancer merely smiled indulgently as they dashed by. That seemed very strange, but he was too late for rehearsals to do more than be grateful.

Dash had decided to practice his left hook and the boy's face, and Fiona had arrived just in time to rescue him. She was great that way. She had tried to convince Danny to just skip rehearsal, just this once since he was so late. He had declined on the grounds that Kat would kill him.

The auditorium was oddly quiet as they neared. They slid to a halt to let some band kids walk out and almost crashed into the director leaving as well. "Oh, hello, Dan," the man said in an irate voice.

"Was rehearsal cancelled?" Danny asked, perplexed. Kat should have been furiously bickering with the director, he thought. That's what she did last time he cancelled.

The director shrugged and shook his head. "Ms. Cadwell isn't here, and without an understudy, there's not a lot we can do without her. So the children voted to just go home."

"I bet I could play the part!" Fiona piped up.

The director smothered a laugh. At the girl's confused expression, Danny laughingly explained, "There's a good reason Kat doesn't have an understudy. We're all scared of her."

"Indeed," the director agreed. "And now if you'll excuse me…"

As the two teens walked back the way came, Fiona said thoughtfully, "She's not a very nice person, is she?"

Danny shrugged. "She's just Kat. She's kind of annoying, but she's really nice once you get to know her."

"She doesn't seem like it."

Oh, yeah, they had met. He forgot they hadn't like each other much. Come to think of it, he didn't used to like her, either. Now, why was that again? He rubbed his eyes; that train of thought gave him a headache. "Uh, listen," he muttered. "Why don't you go on home? I'm going to go make sure she's okay."

Fiona clapped her hands excitedly. "I know!" she exclaimed. "Why don't I go with you? I'd love to see where she lives!"

It occurred to Danny to wonder why his sister was suddenly so excited to see someone she didn't like, but that train of thought gave him a headache as well. Not to mention that it made him question her ulterior motives…"I don't think that's such a good idea," he answered, disturbed by the mistrustful turn his thoughts had taken.

"You're not going there alone!" his twin said forcefully, making him jump. Then the rage vanished and she smiled brightly. "That is…we're twins; we should everything together! I know you don't want to be alone anymore."

No, he d-

Wait. He wasn't alone. He had Sam and Tucker. And Jazz and his parents. He got lonely on occasion, sure, but Fiona…

He relented and simply decided not to go, but he couldn't help but wonder. Why did some part of him not want to trust her?

* * *

It was close to eleven at night. Danny had been lying awake for the past hour, thinking. Away from Fiona, that seemed easier to do. He knew he didn't trust her, but whenever he tried to think why, some stray thought distracted him. It was as though his own mind had suddenly turned against him.

And he was starting to worry about Kat again. Some part of him pointed out that Kat wasn't a nice person, and Fiona didn't like her. Another part reminded him that Kat was an acquired taste, that Sam and Tucker didn't like her much either, and that she seemed very sick last time he saw her. Against some part of his judgment, be it better or worse, he changed into Danny Phantom and flew to the cemetery. It seemed a good place to start looking.

Kat sat, leaning against and partially into her headstone. She looked wearily up at him and contrived to look perplexed. It didn't work very well. "Your light's flickering," she informed him weakly.

"Kat, what's happened to you?" Danny asked, kneeling down next to her. He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder and jerked back as she inadvertently started to drain his energy. As an electric ghost, she fed off power. If there was no power...

She flinched away from him, but a small part of her old spark seemed to return. "Sorry," she said, abashed. "I can't control it anymore. It's too dark."

Danny rubbed his hand. "This started when Fiona showed up," he muttered, finally catching onto to part of the thought that kept eluding him. A little louder, he went on. "But you keep defending her." Kat sighed, too tired to argue, but the boy didn't notice. Why did Kat defend his sister? It seemed important. Further, why had he not trusted her at first? Trying to remember was like wading through a swamp. It felt like the time the Ringmaster had hypnotized him into…

And just like that, Fiona's control broke.

"She's got you hypnotized," Danny said heatedly. "And me, too, but not anymore."

"No!" the object of his anger exclaimed. Unsurprised that she had followed him, he turned to face her. She stomped her foot. "No! No! No! You're my brother! And we're twins! And we're always together! You know that! I know you do!"

Danny shook his head, but rather than retort, he asked, "Why me? Of all people, why invade my life?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she answered snidely. "You're the one the master watches. You're the one she cares about, and the rest of the world can go rot."

"That's not true," Kat said, pulling herself to her feet. The effort clearly cost her, and she leaned heavily on the stone, but the bit of energy Danny had unwittingly donated finally enabled her to fight back. "Elegy's not like that. She gave you a chance, and you threw it in her face. It's your own fault she locked you up, so don't go taking it out on Phantom."

Danny turned, confused. "You know each other?"

Kat shook her head and slowly sank to the ground again. "It doesn't matter. Just stop her."

A flash of blue light drew the boy's attention back to Fiona, now in her ghost form. "I didn't want to get rid of you," she said as though it didn't really matter one way or the other. "But you've left me with no choice." She raised her arm and fired an ectoplasmic energy blast.

Mindful of Kat directly behind, Danny threw up his shield. As soon as the blast let up, he shot into the air and returned with one of his own. Fiona rolled out of the way before joining him in the sky.

* * *

Miles away, a black clad figure stood next to a black custom Harley-Davidson Sportster and watched the light show through a pair of binoculars. It was fascinating to see the two nearly identical ghosts weave and dive, alternately blasting at each other and brawling.

The silent watcher lowered her binoculars and patted the seat of the bike. "Not just yet, baby," she muttered. "We'll wait until he lets his guard down again before we strike. Let him get comfortable. Then we'll get our revenge, won't we, Sweetheart?"

The criminal known as Ebony Angel mounted her idling bike and sped away.

* * *

Danny dove below a blast of green ectoplasm, then shot forward to slam into Fiona. She cried out, as much in resentment as pain, and swung her foot around to kick her opponent in the head. Fighting with Skulker had well prepared him for a move like that. He caught her foot and swung her around, letting go after a moment so that she was thrown several dozen feet.

The interloper recovered quickly enough and balled her fists. "You can't do this to me!" she yelled. "This is my life! Mine!" With a wordless cry of rage, she charged forward.

Danny quickly slid the Fenton Thermos around and uncapped it, then pressed the button to activate it. "No, Fiona," he replied as his screaming opponent was pulled in. He snapped the lid back to ensure she wouldn't escape. "It's mine."

He dove back to the ground to make sure Kat was all right now and to ask her advice on what to do with his prisoner. With the dark haired woman apparently dead…

The woman called Elegy was staring down at Kat's grave, but she looked up as he approached. "She's fine," she called to him. "Or she will be after she pulls herself back together."

Danny landed and went human again, his face a portrait of incredulity. "I thought Fiona killed you."

Elegy shook her head and gave a short breathy laugh. "No, she just…well, that's not important. Um, could you do me a favor?" She waited while Danny considered that and finally nodded cautiously. "It's just…don't talk to Kat about this. She might remember Fiona, but she won't remember knowing her or me."

"Why not?"

"That's not important either." She held out her hand; after a moment's hesitation, Danny relinquished the Fenton Thermos. She smiled. "I…um…uh…" She made a noise of disgust and cleared her throat. "Sorry. I guess I didn't need to worry about you, after all. Bye, Danny. We _won't_ meet again."

She turned around, took a few steps, and faded away. Danny raised an eyebrow; just before she vanished, he could have sworn he heard her mutter, "Theoretically."


	8. Epilogue

All the lights were on when Danny got home, and he groaned inwardly. He landed and reverted back to his human form, then walked into the house, trepidation written into his every movement. Seconds after he got the door open, he found himself engulfed in the warm embrace of his mother's arms.

"Oh, Danny! We were so worried!"

He started to stammer out some kind of explanation, but his father started speaking then. "We thought that ghost girl had gotten you!" he exclaimed. "She had us all under some kind of evil ghost spell."

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Maddie broke in. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

Danny couldn't believe his luck. His own parents had just provided him with the perfect excuse for being out this late. "No…uh, she tried, but I got away."

Without actually letting go of him, she turned slightly to address his sister, hovering by the stairs. "Run and get the ghost shield up." As Jazz dashed off to obey, Maddie and Jack pulled their son into the kitchen to convince themselves that he really was fully intact before sending him to bed with the promise of no school the next day.

Danny collapsed gratefully onto the bed, waiting for Jazz to arrive and pester him for details. He sighed happily. Fiona was finally gone.

* * *

"It's your own fault, you know," Elegy said, her hands on her hips.

Behind the bars of its cage, Contrivance swatted a tiger's paw at its master and roared menacingly. She sighed mournfully and shook her head. "Believe it or not, I don't like punishing you. You were my favorite plot device; you still are. But times change. When you're ready to change with them, I'll let you out."

Contrivance watched its master disappear, then became a monkey and started picking fleas of its fur. It had a lot of fun in Danny's world. Maybe if it promised to be good, master would let it out again.

Maybe change wouldn't be so bad, after all…

* * *

Danny sat in a booth the Hot Pink Lizard karaoke bar. There was a big guy on stage was trying to sing "Natural Woman" in a high falsetto, to the hysterical laughter of the bar's patrons. A waitress walked by and didn't spare the fourteen year old a second glance. In fact, she didn't even spare him a first glance. It was very easy to be overlooked when you were invisible.

He wondered how Kat could avoid getting thrown of here. They were very strict when it came to carding the patrons, and she didn't look much older than he did. Even if she went through the walls instead of the door, someone would notice her; she made no effort to hide herself.

One of the guy's buddies ran on stage to sing some other Tina Turner song. He was halfway through the first refrain when Kat appeared in the seat across from Danny and dropped her head onto head. She still wasn't quite her usual self, but she definitely looked better.

Danny waited for a few minutes, then faded into view, earning a startled exclamation. "So if you see energy patterns," he began, pointedly ignoring his friend's withering glare. "Why can't you see me when I'm invisible?"

She pursed her lips, then gave in and grinned. "Because you dim your light when do that. And I don't know how, so don't ask. I've only met a few ghosts that could do that, and it makes me insane."

Danny returned her smile. "How're you feeling?"

Kat shrugged. "Better now that miss twin sister is gone. That weird field that was overshadowing everything is gone now, too."

"Yeah, I figured it would be."

They stared at each other for a while. The boy was dying to ask about Elegy, but she had said Kat wouldn't remember. That didn't make a lot of sense to him, but then, everything these past few days had been confusing. Confusing and contrived.

"You better get home before your parents miss you," Kat said. Danny nodded and vanished again, but he stayed a few more minutes before he actually left. Thinking he was gone, the thespian leaned back with a sigh and closed her eyes. He wondered what she was thinking, but it would be no use asking. Instead, he just went home.

* * *

A/N: Yay! Next up, the sequel to Cat and Mouse. As the last time, you don't need to know the other half of my source material to understand the story. But for those of you who are over 18 and interested, it's The Suffering: Ties That Bind.


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